Machine for feeding sheet-metal-working presses



(No Model.)

, G. H. PERKINS. v Machine for Feeding Sheet Metal Working Presses Patentd April 19,, I881} In venY/ a II l I l N PETERS. PHOTO LITHOGR UNITED STATES PATENT OEFicn.

GEORGE H. PERKINS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET-METAL-WORKING PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,333, dated April 19, 1881.

Application filed January 26, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. PERKINS, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved Machine forFeedin g Sheet-Metal- Working Presses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is applicable to that general class of machinery which is employed to work, punch, emboss, cut, or otherwise shape. sheets or pieces of metal; and its object is to provide a feeding apparatus which shall automatically and continuously supply the operative mechanism of the machine with the metal blanks or sheets which are to be acted upon, thereby dispensing with manual labor in the feeding of the metal, and enabling the more rapid manipulation of the same. 7

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partiallyin section, of apress conveniently embodying my improvements; Fig. 2, a top-plan view of the same, section being supposed through the standards which support the driving mechanism; Fig. 3, a topplan detail of the valve-chamber of the feed device, represented with its coverplate removed; Fig. 4, a view, in perspective, of the butterfly-valve which operates in said valvechamber; and Fig. 5, a similar view of the compound cam which actuates the feedingarms.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Arepresents the stand of the press; B, standards erected from the same, and supporting between them a crank-shaft, O, to which is secured a balance-wheel, D, to which latter is imparted the motion requisite to drive the striking-die.

E is the striking-die, driven by the crankshaft in the usual manner.

F is the bed-plate of the machine, in the present instance angled backward, so as to permit the shells of the blanks to slide out of the press at the rear. The press represented is especially designed for the forming of circular blanks, although my improvements are, of course, applicable to the forming of other shapes of metal.

Gis a two-armed pneumatic-tube feed of substantially the form shown, and hung upon a ball-joint at H in such manner as to be capable of a compound oscillation, both up and (No model.)

down and from side to side. It is composed of two hollow tubes, 9 and g, which terminate in mouths I of such form as to be smaller than the blanks to be fed, and consisting, essentially, of nozzles downwardly projecting from the tubes. Each nozzle is provided on its top front portion with a valve, J, pivoted at j to the tube in such manner that upon the application of an opposing medium beneath its projecting extremity it can be lifted from its seat at the upper open extremity of the nozzle. When the valve is down, the tube becomes perfectly continuous, and suction applied through the tube does not aflect the valve, except to hold it more closely in its seat, but acts solely through the under opening of the nozzle. The tubes extend backwardly into a casting, K, termed herein the valve chamber, and shown in detail in Fig. 3, in which they terminate in mouths a a. The valve-chamber is fitted with a cover-plate, I), out of which extends a suction-pipe, L, connected with an exhaust-fan or kindred exhausting device. The

valve-chamber is also fitted with a butterfly valve, 0, (shown in detail in Fig. 4,) and pivoted upon a valve stem, d, which extends through the coverplate, and above the latter is provided with a crank, e, the wrist-pin of which is connected to twospiral springs,ff, attached to opposite standards, as shown in Fig. 2. The valve 0 at the opposite positions of the tubes (whereof hereinafter) is, by virtue of the action of the crank as operated by the springs in the throw of the tubes, thrown against one or the other of the mouths of the tubes, so as to close such mouth against air from the nozzle of its tube, and thereby permit of uninterrupted suction through the opposite tube.

It is obvious that suction applied when the tubes are in the position indicated in Fig. 2

will act through the arm 9 only, the arm gbeing closed by the valve 0, and will act reversely when the tubes are oscillated to the opposite side,and that when that arm through which the suction is acting is applied over a pile of blanks and forced down upon them the suction will cause the lifting up of the uppermost blank and its attachment to the nozzle until such time as air is admitted to the nozzle in question by the lifting of its valve J. The valve-chamber K extends rearward in the form ofa lever-arm, M, connected by a spiral spring, N, with a fixed point of the press in such manner that the spring acts continuously to hold the nozzles upon the bed-plate of the press, except when the cam hereinafter explained acts to depress the lever-arm, expand the spring, and raise the nozzles. The entire feed-tube device is pivoted about its ball-joint.

O is the cam above referred to, (shown in Fig. 5,) being a double-acting cam of well-known construction, and of such form in its cross-section that in its rotation the lever-arm is continuously vibrated up and down, the springN in its resistance of the cam beingcontinuously expanded andcontracted.

P is a camway slotted through the cam diagonally to its longitudinal axis, and so formed as to receive within it a friction-roller, Q, upwardly projecting from the lever-arm M, the office of which device is to cause the lateral oscillation of the feed-tube about its ball-joint, the friction-roll being held continuously within the slot by the compression exerted upon the lever-arm by the spring.

R is a stud erected from the front of the press and in line with the chute S, which latter opens at the front of the press and terminates at its smaller end on either side of the opening in the bed-die, into which opening the strikingdie descends.

It will be readily understood that as the feed device is vibrated from side to side, and, in connection with its lateral vibration, is alternately lifted and dropped, the front projections of the nozzle-valves will be alternately brought over and into contact with the stud R, and thereby the valves be alternately retained open as the feed device is dropped, whereby air is admitted alternately to the nozzles, and the blanks which have been alternately sucked up by the nozzles released and caused to drop into the chute, whence they descend to immediately over the hole in the bed-die, over which they are held by springnibs T, in which nibs the narrow extremity of the chute terminates.

U are holders for the blanks, within which the blanks in stacks or piles are placed. There is one holder on each side of the bed-die.

Vis a stripper surrounding the striking-die, and suitably connected with the upper framework of the press, or fastened as otherwise convenient. The office of this stripper is to strip the die of the shell which clings to it after the blank has been punched out.

Such being the construction of my improvement, it is obvious that it is a pneumatic feed device which operates automatically, by suction,to continuously supply blanks to the strikin g-die of the press. Its operation, as has here tain a blank until such time as their nozzlevalves are respectively opened by the action of the stud in the manner described, each arm alternately coming over the chute and over the blank-holder which'is upon the side of the beddie upon which said armis located. The compound action of the cam is merely such as is requisite to give such compound movement to the feed-tubes as will enable the above action.

The construction of the cainway is such as to permit of an irregular rocking of the feeding-arms about their ball-joint pivot, whereby one nozzle can be brought to bear upon a pile of blanks of considerable depth and the other brought to bear upon the chute.

It is obvious that various mechanisms may be resorted to to impart the requisite movement to the feeding-tubes; but although I have described a cam as suitable for the purpose, I do not desire to limit myself to such cam alone.

It is obvious, also, that while a two-armed construction is the most convenient and the most rapid in its operation, yet my device can be adapted for use with a single arm and nozzle, which will alternately suck up the blank and deposit it in such relation to the striking mechanism as to be acted upon thereby; and it is finally obvious that more than two arms may with proper modifications be employed, if desired.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim- 1. As an improvement in devices for feedin g blanks to presses and other metal-working machines, the double tubular suction-arm Gr, connected with an exhausting device and fitted with a valve controlling first one tubular arm and then the other, in combination with suitable mechanism which both oscillates and lifts and drops the double tubular arm substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a pneumatic blank-feeding device for presses, a double tubular suction-arm, connected, in the manner set forth, with an exhausting mechanism, and having means for alternately controlling its tubular arms, the front extremities of which double arm constitute nozzles and are provided with valves, while to the rear extremity of said double arm is connected a lever acted upon by a compound eccentric, which imparts thereto both an oscillatory and a lifting and dropping motion, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with the butterfly-valve in. the valve-chamber, two spiral springs connected with the frame of the press, and means for imparting motion to the valve-chamber, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto signed my'name this 25th dayof January, A. D. 1881.

GEORGE H. PERKINS.

In presence of- O. BERKELEY TAYLOR, J. BONSALL TAYLOR. 

